5 years ago… Search engines are rubbish

09.07.2004:Internet search engines are struggling to keep up with the continued expansion of the web, according to two professors from the NEC Research Institute.

Research shows that the top 11 engines are actually getting worse at looking through the 800 million pages now on the web. The last time performance was measured in December 1997, the main players reached 60 per cent of all pages but this time the top 11 managed only 42 per cent.

One of the report's co-authors, Dr C Lee Giles, said: "We were surprised at the results. I think search engines are not trying to search the whole web. Users want quality information rather than quantity." He added: "Search engines need to be more specialised and more niche."

09.07.2004: Since the news that search engines weren't up to the job, the market in information has gone from strength to strength – or at least become one of the biggest battle grounds in technology.

Earlier this year, Yahoo! spent €475 on shopping search engine Kelkoo and more recently, Microsoft lashed out $100m to revamp the search function on its MSN portal as a shot across the bows at uber-search engine rival, Google.

Google, however, has gone for a divided policy on how to advance in the search market. The execs at the Googleplex have opted, on one hand, to get more niche as Giles suggested, with plans to offer personalised and geographical searches.

On the other hand, Google has decided that broadening its remit is the way to go. Google announced that it intends to take its search technology to another market by launching its own email service, Gmail, and using its search knowledge in the service of marketers. The test accounts are certainly proving popular – so much so, the search giant has slapped a ban on selling them.